“Neurologists provide important and ongoing care for people with complex conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and headache,” said author and Chair of the American Academy of Neurology’s Health Services Research Subcommittee Brian C. Callaghan, MD, MS, FAAN, of University of Michigan Health in Ann Arbor. “With the current number of US neurologists, our study found it can take an average of a month or even more to see a neurologist to receive this specialized care.”

For the study, researchers looked at two years of Medicare data to identify 163,313 people who were referred by a physician to see a neurologist. Participants had an average age of 74. Participants were referred by 84,975 physicians to 10,250 neurologists across the United States.

For each participant, researchers calculated the time between the physician referral and their first visit with a neurologist.

Researchers found the average wait time to see a neurologist was 34 days, with 18% of people waiting longer than 90 days. Researchers found no difference in wait times across race, ethnicity and sex. When compared to people seeing a neurologist for back pain with an average wait of 30 days, people with multiple sclerosis (MS) had an average wait that was 29 days longer, people with epilepsy had an average wait 10 days longer and people with Parkinson’s disease, nine days longer.

Researchers found no difference in wait times based on how many neurologists were available in an area, ranging from as few as 10 to as many as 50 neurologists per 100,000 people. However, they did find differences among states due to different policies or regulations regarding health care access.

When people saw a neurologist outside of their physician’s referral area, wait times were longer by an average of 11 days. The most common neurological conditions for people who saw a neurologist outside of their physician’s referral area were MS, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.

“In general, early referral to specialists has been shown to improve outcomes and increase patient satisfaction,” said author Chun Chieh Lin, PhD, MBA, of The Ohio State University in Columbus and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. “Our findings underscore the need to develop new strategies to help people with neurological conditions see neurologists faster.”

“The American Academy of Neurology actively works to reduce wait times by providing resources to neurology practices that help them more efficiently provide care,” said American Academy of Neurology President Carlayne E. Jackson, MD, FAAN. “Increasing the number of neurologists has long been a focus of the AAN, and our work with policy makers and lawmakers has helped improve access to telemedicine for people with neurological conditions.”

A limitation of the study was that it didn’t include people referred to a neurologist who didn’t follow through with the visit, so researchers may have missed potential disparities at the referral stage. Lin noted that future research should include people who were referred to a neurologist but who didn’t receive this care.

The study was supported by the American Academy of Neurology.